Should Apple kill the headphone jack?

19 August 2016

Transcript

[MUSIC]
Rumor is that the iPhone 7 which is expected to make an appearance in the next few weeks will not have a headphone jack.
Exactly.
As to that the facts suffer Intel has been talking this week about how I think USB type C could be the future of headphone ports and not the traditional 3.5 millimeter jack and it's looking like maybe This little faithful little bug we've relied on for decades might be going away.
Now I know that Andrew, you feel quite positively about this.
I am quite positive about this.
I'll give you a chance to explain yourself.
Okay.
That's only fair.
All right.
Well, you said yourself, this 3.5 mill headphone jack, the standard headphone jack as we know in all phones and Walkmans, whatever, Have been around for decades.
This is the longest lasting piece of tech that I think we're probably all still using on a daily basis.
I think that's probably fair to say, yeah.
Look, the iPhone, we had the long connector, now we have the lightening one.
We've changed from USBC.
We've had so many different things, and that still is there, and what's that's doing is making our phones fatter than they could be.
We could get rid of that, it takes up a lot of space, that connector.
It's also a very old, analog connection that's based on old technologies from decades ago.
Get rid of that.
We move on, we get used to it, and in a year's time we won't even remember the old headphone jack.
I mean to address those points in terms of how much fatter the headphone port is making phones, could they be thinner if they lost it?
I mean, possibly yes but-
Definitely yes!
Yeah, sure, Okay.
Let's say that they get 2 millimeters thinner.
Is that really going to make much of a difference?
If people really cared about portability of their phones then they wouldn't have been getting bigger and bigger and bigger over the last few years.
Clearly we don't care.
I live and die on that 2 millimeters, Luke.
I don't believe that for a second.
As for the digital audio thing, yes You are right, there are some potentially very interesting things that could be done with the move away from the limitations of the port we have now.
But I mean, let's be honest, most people were just using the sort of straight out the box Apple earphones.
Lots of people, they go a step up and don't want to spend more than maybe a sort of 100 pounds, $100 on something that they're probably going to lose or something going to break.
So I don't believe that sort of minor audio Audio file grade increases the sound quality are really worth the trace.
You can't blame people.
Some people are still feature phones and listen to ocean color scene like it doesn't necessarily mean that other people won't take advantage of this tech.
But, with also seen massive increase bluetooth technology, like bluetooth headphones, a few years ago.
What all four and it was this terrible tiny sound And the new generation things from ACG have got some amazing ones.
Even in these Beats have got brilliant Bluetooth audio.
I don't know what future you're living in where Bluetooth is good enough now, and has reached an acceptable level of quality, but it's not my universe.
[UNKNOWN] Charging up your headphones, I don't think that's what people want.
At the moment their headphone jack is one of the very few pieces of technology on the smart phone that you know is gonna be reliable.
It's being reliable.
Is it reliable?
Yes.
Mine breaks all the time and most of my devices, not discounting my current phone from this, the headphone jack is the first thing to go and ends up being like you have to wiggle the cable and sometimes one channel will cut out and one won't.
And you think it's the headphone that's at play or is it the phone &lt;&lt;is it="" a="" problem="" with="" the="" port="" or="" is="" connector="" because="" sounds="" like="" your="" headphones=""&gt;&gt; I think it's both it's the problem because they are both fragile, old fashioned types of technology &lt;&lt;i completely="" disagree,="" it's="" an="" old="" reliable="" technology="" that="" for="" decades="" has="" been="" doing="" a="" very="" simple="" job,="" extremely="" effectively=""&gt;&gt; what other pieces taken your phone is decades old?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/is&gt; Old.
Well, I'm-
Yes, there's no other piece of tech in my phone that's decades old.
Exactly, there shouldn't be.
Because only one piece of tech that's decades old is still doing its job.
But a perfectly-
It's not doing its job decent level.
[INAUDIBLE] You're so anti-future.
I'm not anti-future, I'm just anti-change for the sake of it.
Get on board with the change train.
This isn't Apple Electrode.
They're trying to stage a-
[LAUGH]
September Apple launch.
No.
I think it's a good port and I hope it stays around.
[LAUGH]
Choo choo.
I hope it stays around forever.
Anyhow, Andy and I will have to agree to disagree but as always, let us know what you think.
[MUSIC]